A New Tool For Affordable Housing

The District of Columbia Housing Authority has a new tool it can use to preserve and create affordable housing in the city.

DCHA’s Board of Commissioners passed regulations that would guide the agency’s implementation of a new program called the Rental Assistance Demonstration or RAD. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development developed RAD to convert traditional public housing subsidy dollars into voucher subsidy.

“For years, the federal government has been allocating less funding for public housing, making it harder and harder for us to maintain these aging properties,” said DCHA Executive Director Tyrone Garrett. “The government has continually funded the voucher program. So RAD gives us a more stable and predictable annual subsidy that will help us keep our customers in safe and healthy homes.”

The board’s vote will allow DCHA staff to continue with the HUD process to convert 109 units across four properties—Colorado Apartments, Columbia Road Apartments, Fairlawn Marshall and Matthews Memorial Terrace.

The regulations ensure that existing and future residents will have the same basic rights and rules as traditional public housing. For example, residents will continue to pay no more than 30 percent of their income as rent. The board took an extra step to have the new regulations go through a rigorous review with the legal service provider community in the next three months to ensure the program begins in the best way possible.